PORT O'CONNOR

The $11 million Port O'Connor Improvement District bond failed Tuesday.

The sales and use tax proposition also failed by a two-vote margin, 117 to 115.

The bond proposition called for the levy of taxes without limits to the rate or an amount to pay for the bonds.

The sales and use tax rate would not have exceeded 1.5 percent.

District officials were unable to estimate what the increase in property taxes would have been. They hoped the combination of sales tax revenue and property tax would have paid for the bonds.

Also, officials did not plan to sell all the bonds at once but instead to sell as the projects were ready, said Donna Grafe-Tucker, attorney for the improvement district.

The money generated by both propositions would have paid for waterworks, sanitary sewer and drainage systems. This would have helped Port O'Connor meet Texas Commission on Environmental Quality standards in the future, said improvement district president Teddy Hawes.